18 Nov 2013

At last…a caravan trip!

15th to 17th November 2013

As reported in our last post, a new bridge has been erected.  It’s a tight squeeze but we managed to get the caravan across without any problems and headed to the C&CC site at Windermere, our third visit this year.  Our first caravan trip for two and a half months!

We wanted somewhere easy to get to because we now have a new tow car…a Vauxhall Insignia 2.0 CDTi.  According to D, the best looking car he has ever owned!

Friday

The Insignia tows at least as well as the Mondeo did, so we arrived at the site quite early after an uneventful drive.  A bit of a panic the day before, when D realised a standard tow-ball had been fitted (after the mobile fitter had gone, obviously).  Managed to get to a local caravan service centre just before it closed and persuaded them to replace it with one that was compatible with a stabiliser for a small fee plus the cost of the tow-ball.  Entirely our fault, we didn’t specify the type of tow-ball to be fitted…duh!

The site wasn’t very full, so we got a good pitch in our usual place.

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After setting everything up we headed across the fields to Staveley, then, after a quick drink in the Eagle and Child, we decided to catch the 555 bus to Ings for dinner at the Watermill Inn.  This is one of our favourite pubs, and apart from it being a bit hot inside, it didn’t disappoint.  We could have stayed longer but wanted to get to the bus stop in plenty of time to get the bus back to Staveley, which we did, only to watch it sail past.  Oh well, it was dark, so maybe the driver didn’t see us!  It’s a couple of miles from Ings to Staveley, so we walked instead.

Back at Staveley we popped into the Hawkshead Brewery, and one of the other pubs, then back across the fields to the site.

Saturday

Off to Bowness for a walk along the western shore of Lake Windermere.  We left the car in Bowness and got the car ferry across, which is excellent value at only 50p for foot passengers.  Not such good value for cars.

Route

After walking along the lake shore we returned via High Blind How (269 metres).  We tried to get to this summit once before, via a different route, only to find it closed due to forestry work, but we made it this time.

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Excellent views of Bowness and Lake Windermere in surprisingly good weather for this time of year.  Lots of lovely autumnal colours.

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IMG_3685Interesting funghi

Stopped off at the Crown Carvery in Bowness for a cheap dinner before heading back to the site for a quiet night in, reading and listening to Jazz FM.

Sunday

Left early, around 9.30, and back at the storage site well before midday.

Coming soon…

No more trips for at least 2 weeks due to work and another (non caravan) trip for J, but we might try to get away early in December if the weather is ok.

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